WASHINGTON – Two special elections Tuesday in heavily Democratic Twin Cities-area state legislative districts will decide control of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the third time in less than a year.
Republicans hold a 67-65 advantage in the chamber after two Democratic representatives were elected to other offices in November. The chamber has operated under a power-sharing agreement between the two parties for much of the last year.
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The contests take place just days after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, sparking protests and renewed calls for federal immigration officers to leave the state. Earlier in January, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis woman as part of an ongoing federal immigration crackdown.
In District 47A, Democrat Shelley Buck is the only candidate on the ballot, although voters have the option to vote for a write-in candidate. Buck is a former environmental nonprofit executive and former president of the Prairie Island Tribal Council.
The district is east of St. Paul. It falls mostly within Washington County but includes a portion of Ramsey County. In 2024, both Democratic state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried District 47A with about 61% of the vote in their races. Hemmingsen-Jaeger won a special election to the state Senate in 2025.
In District 64A, the nominees are Democrat Meg Luger-Nikolai and Republican Dan Walsh. Luger-Nikolai is a labor attorney who represented a statewide teachers union. Walsh runs a real estate property management company and has worked in cybersecurity and tech sales. He was the GOP nominee for this seat in 2022 and 2024.
The district is entirely within Ramsey County and stretches most of the distance between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Democratic state Rep. Kaohly Her and Harris each won the district with more than 83% of the vote in 2024. Her was elected mayor of St. Paul in 2025.
With Buck the only candidate on the ballot in District 47A, The Associated Press will treat the contest as uncontested and will call the race as soon as polls close, unless there is any indication of an organized write-in effort for another candidate.
In District 64A, Walsh will need to far outperform the approximately 15% and 17% of the vote he received in his 2022 and 2024 runs, respectively. With almost all the vote expected to be released in just one or two batches, a race call could be possible at the first sign of an overwhelming margin.
The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.
There are no automatic recounts for state legislative races in Minnesota. A losing candidate may request a publicly funded recount if the margin is less than 0.5% of the total vote. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.
Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Desk will monitor as the votes are tallied:
When do polls close?
8 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. ET.
What’s on the ballot?
The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in the special elections for Minnesota state House Districts 47A and 64A.
Who gets to vote?
The special elections are open to voters in state House Districts 47A and 64A. Minnesota allows voters to register on Election Day at their polling place.
What do turnout and advance vote look like?
House Districts 47A and 64A each had nearly 28,000 registered voters as of June 1, 2025.
In District 47A, about 23,000 voters cast ballots in the 2024 general election and about 19,000 in 2022. About half the ballots in 2024 were cast before Election Day, compared with about 31% in the 2022 midterm elections.
In District 64A, nearly 25,000 voters cast ballots in 2024 and more than 21,000 in 2022. About 41% of ballots in 2024 were cast before Election Day, compared with about 27% in the 2022 midterm elections.
As of Thursday night, just shy of 300 ballots had already been cast in District 47A and about 400 ballots in District 64A.
How long does vote-counting usually take?
In the 2022 general election, the AP first reported results at 10:49 p.m. ET in District 47A and at 11:12 p.m. ET in District 64A. The last vote update of the night in District 47A was at 11:50 p.m. ET and in District 64A was at 11:39 p.m. ET, each with more than 99% of the total vote counted.
In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results in both Districts 47A and 64A at 1:09 a.m. ET. The tabulation in both districts ended for the night at 2:29 a.m. ET with more than 99% of total votes counted.
When are early and absentee votes released?
In previous elections in both Ramsey and Washington counties, results from absentee voting were released along with in-person Election Day voting throughout the night.